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EPA Administrator Pruitt’s Secrecy Extends Even to Refusal to Release His Public Speeches

December 4, 2017

Environmental Integrity Project Forced to File Lawsuit Under Freedom of Information Act to Obtain Speeches that Pruitt Gave to Industry Groups

Washington, D.C. – The Environmental Integrity Project (EIP) today filed a lawsuit in federal court against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over its refusal to turn over the most obviously public of public records: Public speeches made by its administrator, Scott Pruitt.

While many former administrations routinely posted on the EPA website the speeches and public presentations made by the agency’s administrator, Mr. Pruitt has declined to do so, or to respond to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed by EIP on October 24 for speeches and other prepared remarks he has given to third parties in his role as EPA Administrator.

To date, EIP has received no determination letter, request for clarification, or notification of or request for an extension from EPA regarding the FOIA – although, by law, the agency is required to respond within 20 days.

“This stonewalling follows a pattern with Administrator Pruitt, who seems to have an obsession with secrecy,” said Mary Greene, Deputy Director of the Environmental Integrity Project. “Pruitt meets and speaks frequently with industry groups – but not public health or environmental advocates – and then makes decisions that benefit only industry, while ignoring the broader American public he’s supposed to serve.”

EIP is asking the courts to rule that EPA’s failure to respond in a timely manner to the organization’s request is an improper withholding of public records and a violation of the Freedom of Information Act.

Among the speeches that EIP is requesting are presentations that Pruitt gave to several groups seeking deregulatory actions by the Trump Administration, including the American Farm Bureau, on February 28; the Edison Electric Institute, on March 14; the American Petroleum Institute, on March 22; the National Well Strippers, on March 23; Consol Energy, on April 13; and the National Mining Association, on April 24.

“When you look at who Administrator Pruitt is meeting and having conversations with, it is clear that average citizens do not have his ear – it’s big business and the fossil fuels industry,” said Greene. “We think that American citizens – who are Mr. Pruitt’s boss – have a right to know what their employee is promising to these groups.”

Below is a list of some of the organizations to which Pruitt has given speeches that EIP is seeking through its public records request:

The Environmental Integrity Project is a 15-year-old nonprofit, nonpartisan organization, based in Washington D.C., dedicated to enforcing environmental laws and holding polluters and governments accountable to protect public health.